As someone who has been knee-deep in learning to love my finances for a very long time, I still haven’t figured it all out yet.

If someone out there says they do, run far far away from them.

Let’s be honest here. Figuring out your personal finances is an ongoing process. Always. Just because a budget or a spending plan works for you now, doesn’t mean it’ll work for you down the line. Life happens.

Take me for example, I thought I had wrapped my head around the whole emotional side of spending. I have had no desire to purchase frivolous items and have said no to quite a few people because I knew I would end up spending obscene amounts of money around them.

Not the case at all.

When I moved back from living in China for the past 8 years, I had to face a whole new set of challenges. Adjusting to a career which involves staying at home with my son all day. Still being away from friends and family. The exhaustion that came with moving, including where to store, move and ship all those items.

And let’s talk about all that stuff shall we?

That was what got my emotions around finances in a tizzy. [Read more…]

Hey peeps! I’m excited to feature my friend Melanie from the blog Dear Debt and her experience with crippling student loan debt and how she overcame it. She also has a book out which I’m devouring right now. Go ahead and check it out!

Alrighty, I’ll stop typing. Read on to find out her amazing story.

I got into $81,000 in student loan debt. I borrowed $23,000 for my undergraduate degree and $58,000 for my graduate degree from NYU. With interest, I probably paid closer to $100,000. I went to California State University Long Beach for my undergrad, which was fairly affordable, but NYU was my “dream school” — a very expensive, private school.

For so long, I believed what everyone told me: that student loans were the “good debt.” I thought education was worth it at any price. I was shocked that I got into NYU and had always wanted to live in New York, so it was really easy for me to justify taking on those student loans to make that dream happen.

At the time, I was confident about my life after graduation and thought I’d be able to pay back my loans easily. Unfortunately, that wasn’t really the case.

I had a moment of debt denial shortly after graduation [Note: In case you didn’t know, debt denial is when you don’t acknowledge your debt and pretend it’s not there. Melanie’s story of debt denial is unfortunately too normal for many of us, and if you read her book and are in debt, you may see yourself in her shoes.].

I signed up for Mint.com and synced all my student loans, income and expenses. I was shocked to find out that after five years of making minimum payments, I still had $68,000 left. Seeing that number in black and white made me nauseous.

Look, fixing our finances shouldn’t be hard. It might require you to sit down and look at some paperwork, but you don’t need to spend hours upon hours hunched over looking at numbers.

There are ways to help fix your finances in only ten minutes a day. That being said, it doesn’t let you off the hook from looking at your finances more deeply, like consolidating loans and looking over a monthly budget. But ten minutes a day is simple, totally doable, and you probably won’t gouge your eyes out.

If you like stories like these, feel free to check out my new podcast Beyond The Dollar. It’s a place where my co-host and I have deep and honest conversations about how money affects our well-being. In it, we share a lot of stories and situations that have helped is. Click here to check it out and let me know what you think 🙂

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I am not a financial professional and not licensed to dispense financial advice. There are times when I may have received compensation from affiliate links and other companies. The financial advice I share may not be appropriate for your lifestyle and personal situation.
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